You’d Need to Work 89 Hours a Week to Afford Rent in CO—Here’s Why

Does it sometimes feel like all you do is work?  Does it also feel like all of your money goes to affording a place to call home in Colorado? If you feel that way, you are not alone. Many Coloradans feel like all they do is work to live in a place they are never really at, well, because they are at work.

Those who are currently working a minimum wage job probably feel the financial squeeze a bit more than people who are making significantly more. More money made per hour gives you the freedom to have a little bit of breathing room when it comes to finances.

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RedFin recently put out a list of how many hours in a week one would need to work to afford a place to live in the median asking price for rent in each state if you were to be getting minimum wage. How many hours you would need to work in Colorado every single week might surprise you.

Colorado’s Minimum Wage vs. Rent Costs in 2025

In 2025, Colorado's minimum wage is $14.81 for non-tipped employees and for tipped workers, it is $11.79 per hour. So how many hours would someone making minimum wage need to work just to afford the median asking rent in the state of Colorado?

READ MORE: Colorado Rental Prices May Dramatically Drop in 2025 Due to This

That answer is 89 hours per week. If a minimum-wage worker in the state of Colorado were to have two days off per week, they would need to work an average of 17.8 hours per day to make rent at a median asking rent price of $1,668 in the state of Colorado.

Colorado Isn’t Alone—Some States Are Worse

While you may think that is bad, there are a handful of other states where you would need to work even more hours at a minimum wage job just to have a place to live. The state that has the most requred hours to afford the median asking rent price is New Hampshire. With a state minium wage of $7.25 per hour and a median asking rent price of $2,110, minimum wage employees would need to work 224 hours per week to afford a place to rent.

READ MORE: Renting Property in Colorado: Colorado Landlords Rank 4th Worst

Colorado ranks as the seventh-lowest state on the list for hours needed to work to afford the median asking rent price in each state. Partially, this has to do with the state minimum wage. The state with the highest minimum wage in the nation is Washington, D.C. with an hourly rate of $17.50 per hour.

Want to See the Full Breakdown? Here’s Where to Look

Learn more about how many hours you would need to work in each state to afford the median asking rent price while earning minimum wage at redfin.com.